MADISONVILLE, Ky. (3/25/13) – Madisonville was host this past weekend to the largest Easter egg Hunt in Western Kentucky.

Presented by Covenant Community Church (CCC), 2013 Eggstravaganza was held at Madisonville City Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Pastor Michael Knight, who has pastored at CCC since the church was founded in 1993, began the hunt that same year. Since that time, it has grown to host as many as 5,000 people, including an average of 500-600 children ages 0-12 years of age. “We keep good records,” said Knight, who periodically collected a registration tally to determine how to continue to plan the event annually to accommodate its growing popularity.

Along with the thousands of community members in attendance, Madisonville Fire Department (MFD) and Medical Center Ambulance Services were there to supervise the scene, as was local radio station WTTL 106.9, and some of the kids’ favorite TV friends, SpongeBob Squarepants, Patrick Star, Scooby Doo, and of course, the Easter Bunny. Bouncy B’s of Madisonville set up four large bounce houses for the children to play in during the registration process from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. while the games and drawings were hosted on the stage behind. CCC Youth Pastor, Jenny Little, hosted a stage presentation for the attendees showcasing different performances of song and dance as entertainment.

There were over 100 volunteers participating in this year’s hunt, parking cars, working registration, hosting games, setting up, tearing down, and anything else they could do to contribute. With over 500 children in attendance this year hunting for candy and hob-knobbing with their favorite animated characters, CCC was wise to enlist as many volunteers.

Media Director for CCC, Leesa Boone, explained details of the organization of the 2013 Eggstravaganza. CCC hosts two big holiday community events annually. They have a Halloween fair in October at the church located at Briarwood Shopping Center on 1055 N. Main St. “This is our way of giving back to the community,” said Boone. “Members of CCC donate their time and money to buy all of the candy and games and prizes for these events, including paying for the costumes and bouncy houses. We really enjoy getting it all together because the kids love it so much.”

The designated hunting fields were specially organized and separated to suit all age groups of children, including those with special needs or handicaps, each with volunteers stationed to instruct them on when to cross the tape to claim their eggs. There were 30,000 plastic eggs strategically placed throughout the fields for the children to freely collect as many as they could within the time limit given, which was less than 5 minutes total. The children at the 5-6 year old field didn’t let their volunteer instructor slow down their rush once they heard a signal. They stood with their baskets and bags in tow, listening intently to the instructor explain directions and waiting for the cue to collect the eggs. A couple of the children must have heard a “Go” that wasn’t meant for them and they tore through the restricting tape to grab their eggs. It was a riot effect, and all the children followed storming onto the field while the parents yelled for them to come back to the tape. The parents were outnumbered and the children were off to the races. After all of the eggs were collected, the children brought them to a table where there were volunteers stationed with large boxes of candy to scoop out to each once they turned their eggs in.

To visit Covenant Community Church on Facebook, log on directly by clicking here. You may also contact them via telephone at (270) 821-2000.